A machine, such as a hydraulic excavator, is a self-propelled construction machine designed for conducting work, such as excavating. The hydraulic excavator may include an upper swiveling body installed on a base having a crawler or wheel carriage. A self-propelled working machine, such as the hydraulic excavator, may be provided with a surveillance mechanism for surveying around the upper swiveling body in order to ensure the safety for working and to improve the operability of the machine is known. This surveillance mechanism may be constituted by one or more cameras attached to the upper swiveling body and a display screen installed at a position in front of an operator's seat at an operator station. Images taken by the camera may be displayed on the display screen.
In order to maximize safety while operating the machine, the plurality of cameras may be configured to obtain a widest possible viewing angle around the working machine. The plurality of cameras may generate image data corresponding to the surround-view and communicate those images to the display. However, since the plurality of cameras is installed, the image data may need to be sent to an electronic control unit (ECU) over a data link of the machine. The ECU then combines images from the plurality of cameras to provide a complete view of the environment around the machine. The above system inherently requires an expensive ECU with abundance of processing power and memory. Further, image data is compressed to communicate volumes of image data from the plurality of cameras to the ECU as the capacity of data link is limited due to system design requirements, reducing overall image quality affecting tracking of people and objects around the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,787,013 (hereinafter referred to as '013 reference) describes a monitor system with plurality of cameras. The '013 reference includes a method for monitoring a monitoring area wherein each of the plurality of cameras capture an image of an image capturing area. The method includes changing an image capturing area of each of the plurality of imaging devices based on an image capturing characteristics information so as to form a gapless wide range image. However, the '013 reference does not disclose details about any solution to prevent increase in overall cost of the machine or reduction of overall image quality.
Therefore, an improved display system for displaying image data of the environment of the machine is required.